


Canceling the Apocalypse

by FelpaOrca



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action, Angst, Character Death, Characters MIA, Cities being destroyed, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Hope, M/M, Other, PacificRimAu, lots of fluff, these poor kids need it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-04-23 18:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14338095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelpaOrca/pseuds/FelpaOrca
Summary: Keith was content with spending what was left of his days with a meager salary, working in the contention wall. He had done his duty, sacrificed enough. This war, however, was not done with him. This is their last hope, their last resource and maybe, just maybe, he might find hope again within the cockpit of a Jaeger.





	1. Incident 00: Gypsy Slasher vs. HammerHead

* * *

ANCHORAGE SHATTERDOME  
ALASKA, USA  
0400 HOURS

 

The alarm blared in Keith’s ear, making him sit up with an adrenaline shot that almost had him hitting the bunk bed above with his face. It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up with his surroundings and understand the pattern within the alarm that was now blaring through the whole base. Constant high pitched notes meant a full base alarm, which meant he had no more time to spend sitting in his bed.

 

He untangled himself from the covers and jumped out of bed, just to come face to face with his roommate, copilot and older brother. “Rise and shine!” Shiro quipped, already in his pilot unisuit. Keith glared at his brother, wondering if he’d actually slept with that on, because there was no way that he had dressed up so quickly.

 

“Yeah, yeah.” he muttered, wincing against the cold metallic floor under his feet, but still rushing towards his closet and yanking his own suit off its hanger.  

 

“Good morning, Anchorage! It’s 0400 and we have a new arrival on the neighborhood! They’re ugly as fuck and they are sure as hell expecting a welcome pie! Gypsy Slasher, please report to hangar 01.” Matt Holt’s ungodly cheerful voice echoed through base.

 

“Language!” Shiro immediately yelled at the speakers and Keith couldn’t help but laugh as he clipped his chest armor on. “You do know he can’t hear you through those, right?” he asked, smirk in place.

 

“Don’t talk back to your superiors, Kogane!” Shiro chastised him, but he didn’t really have an edge to his voice. Keith simply shrugged and threw his pajama shirt at his brother.

 

Before Shiro could exact his revenge, the door to their room opened with a slam, a tall tan woman stood there, platinum short hair framing her face. “Are you two done getting ready or would you like to borrow some mascara? I’m sure the kaiju would appreciate the extra effort.”

 

Both of them immediately stood up and saluted their commander before rushing out of the barracks, helmets under their arms, Keith still in the process of zipping up his flight suit. Despite her almost ethereal look, Marshall Allura Altea could probably shame a kaiju with her sharp tongue, and neither of them really felt like facing her so early in the morning when she clearly still hadn’t had her coffee. They knew they were the lucky ones, heading out of the dome to fight the giant alien monster. Shiro sighed and smiled while Keith smirked. They didn’t really have to speak a word, and both of them knew that they shared the same thought.

 

They quickly ran into the hangar and Keith glanced at Gypsy Slasher’s inert body, its head (the pilot’s capsule) already set for both of them to be loaded into it. She was an impressive thing, made all the more awesome with its striking black and read paint, accented with neon blue. The only nuclear powered jaeger in their dome, not only was she one of their fastest models, she also had the longest streak of victories out of all of the other teams, only broken by the Island Incident. And to be fair, having survived a kaiju ambush with one of her arms already gone… Honestly, Keith wasn’t even sure how the Holts had managed to bring her back, but he was grateful they had, he would have no other Jaeger.

 

The assistants made quick work of finishing with their gear, installing the spinal adaptor that would allow the connection between them and Slasher. “Good morning, Kogane, Shirogane! Ready for our diplomatic mission?” Matt’s voice sprang up from within the coms as soon as their helmets were clasped over their heads.

 

“And here I thought you two dorks were in a first name basis already. Did you two nerds even hold hands?” Keith replied with a smirk as he walked into the pedals that controlled the Jaeger and placing his hands over the controllers. He didn’t really have to turn to know that his brother had stuttered and was now just going through the motions, pretending not having heard that.

 

“Your Pidge is showing again, Keith. But if you really want to know...” Matt started and Keith could almost hear the smirk in that idiot’s voice.

  
“Nope. No, thank you. I take it back.” he quickly interrupted him as the door to the capsule closed after the last of the assistants left.

 

“If you gentlemen are done with the chatter…” Marshall Altea’s voice suddenly interrupted. “Engage drop, Mr.Holt.”

 

Keith almost snickered as Matt cleared his throat. “Marshall on deck! Engaging drop, ma’am.”

“Gypsy Slasher, ready for drop.” Shiro spoke clearly, his fingers running through the different switches and levers that initiated the process for docking. “Ready to drop, dome.” Keith added as he braced for the drop. And he couldn’t help the smirk that came with the rush of adrenaline as the capsule was lowered in what almost felt like a free fall.

 

“Coupling confirmed, ma’am.”

 

“Begin pilot to pilot connection.”

 

“Connection established.”

 

Keith could hear Matt and Allura go through the start up protocol, but he focused on the giant doors that were now opening for them. Being part of a Jaeger, especially before the neural handshake was always strange, like wearing a coat that was too big, but absurdly so. And everything around them, the cranes that carried Slasher’s still inert body, the platform that pushed her out into the raging storm that was pushing and pulling on the Pacific Ocean, felt unproportionally gigantic. For a moment he observed the giant waves that lapped at the base’s platform. Were he down there, outside of his Jaeger, he would be swallowed whole, never to be seen again… But inside of Slasher, besides Shiro? He was unstoppable by waves or by giant alien monsters hell bent on eating him for dinner. He felt Slasher purring beneath his feet as her engine burst into life. Somehow, the thought came to him that she probably felt the same.

 

“Gypsy Slasher, ready for alignment!” Shiro called as he rolled his shoulders back and turned to look at Keith. “Ready?” he asked, a focused smile on his face.

“Bring it.” he quickly replied.

 

“Neural handshake initiating.” a robotic voice announced, but Keith could barely register it. Even in a connection as strong as theirs, it took a few seconds for it to align. Having your brain melted with another and thrown into a giant robot, even if that someone was your elder brother, was always a strange feeling.

 

He heard his own voice, as a child, calling for parents long gone, caught glimpses of a very young Shiro, looking at him with a warmth openness that he could still distinguish in his adult face. And he also saw himself, looking up with a pout. That was always a strange experience, but not as bad as having to rewatch the date his brother had been on the day before.

 

“Neural handshake established and holding.” Matt’s voice broke through the memories and Keith couldn’t help but gag a little. “I need something like toothpaste for my brain. You two are sa-ppy.”

 

“Don’t chase the rabbit.” Shiro said with a little humor in his voice, or maybe Keith could just sense the humor through their connection, either way, he was still disgusted. “Right hemisphere, calibrating.” Shiro said quickly, all profesional again.

 

“Left hemisphere calibrating.” Keith said and Shiro sent him the thought that he was pouting. Of course he wasn’t, though.

 

Despite the side effect of knowing way too much of his brother and his boyfriend, the neural connection felt warm, easy, natural. Shiro was like a coat, enveloping and warm: he rooted them down and Keith focused them. And they might not be blood brothers, but in the drift, that didn’t matter. They were more than brothers, they were one.

 

“Initiating launch sequence.” Matt’s voice announced through the coms. Keith had heard that new docking modules were in development that allowed for a swifter launch and he wondered if they would be installed in their base. Shiro hopped this would all be over before they had a chance to. Neither thought it likely.

 

“Gypsy Slasher, we’ve had several reports from the northernmost base of an unidentified kaiju heading southeast. Aquatic and pretty fast, heading directly for sector VA.C-02. We’re to intercept before VA.C-13. Are we clear?” Allura said as information was displayed in the visors before them.

 

“This island…” Keith said softly, pointing at a small point in the map in front of them. The display zoomed in, and his stomach dropped along with Shiro’s. “A small lookout fortress. Could stall a small kaiju, but… Dome, what are the estimates on this kaiju?”

 

Keith heard a small sigh and he already knew the answer. “Gypsy Slasher, we are defending an area with over two million civilians. Do not engage before VA.C-13. I do not like repeating myself.”  And even if Allura’s voice was firm and steely the thought ran through both of their minds that she, more than anyone, was going to carry that decision in their consciousness.

“Yes, Marshall.” they both responded. Keith didn’t even have to turn to his brother to see that he was muting their coms for a moment.

 

“I know she has a point…” Shiro began, but Keith could already feel the defiance within his brother. They would save every soul that they could reach.

 

“If the kaiju drift a couple of areas to the right… Well, we have to engage wherever we engage, right?” Keith replied with a half glance at his brother, smirk in his face.

 

“It’s like you read my mind.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes as the lift behind them disengaged. Suddenly, the weight of Slasher suddenly felt real and heavy in his legs.

 

“Do you need us to stretch first?” Shiro asked teasingly.

 

“If you feel like cramping just let me know first, grandpa!” Keith replied as the fought against the waves that pushed back on them, easily submerging into the dark water.

  
  


* * *

 

PACIFIC OCEAN

VA.C-15

0530 HOURS

 

The dark choppy waters of the Pacific made it impossible to watch, yet there they were, all huddled in the northernmost part of their base, futally holding their artillery in a ready position. They were no fools, they had received the radio communications from both Anchorage and LA Shatterdomes. It was coming, behind any wave now, swimming in one of the currents that went right through them. Their chances were slim to none, depending on the optimism of who was asked, but they were all aware that their small base would soon be no more. Their radars beeped ominously, the long beep signaling the emptiness of the water around them taunting. It was fast, probably reaching the 1.5k knots according to some estimates, so by the time their radar picked it up it would probably be already on top of them. They waited in silence, the sound of their own breath almost unbearable, and then it came. A bleep.

 

“Straight west, sir!” the radar operator announced, the commander in floor had barely had the chance to begin his instructions to the gunners when he interrupted him again though. “S-sire! Two of them! Another from the north!”

 

“What do you mean _two_ of them?”

 

“I, uh, I have two readings sir!”

 

“Have you been drinking Johnson?!”

 

“Sir. I am confirming. We have two readings.”

 

A terrible roar deafened the deck for a moment, a dark shadow barely visible through the thunder, the windows vibrating from the volume of it. The silhouette was misshapen, a series of vibrant neon eyes were the only indication of where its head began and ended and, without the thunder to illuminate it and while their trained spotlights turned on it to illuminate it, it was the only terrible light that they could see.

 

“G-gunners! To your posts!”

 

As soon as the lights hit its face, the kaiju roared, showing its neon blue saliva covered mouth, and it lunged forward. It’s roar, however, morphed into something else, something deeper, shriller, unnatural. Mechanic, and still as terrifyingly loud.

 

“The second signal, sir!”

 

A bright light appeared beneath the waves and it slowly rose. The nuclear core hissed as water ran down the gigantic armor, several hatches within the frame opening, releasing steam, as the metalic beast warmed its system in preparation for a direct engagement.

 

“Is that…?!”

 

* * *

 

“Gypsy Slasher! State your position!” Marshall Altea’s voice rang through their coms, clearly upset.

 

“Busted.” Keith smirked at his brother through their private com.

 

“Gypsy Slasher here.” Shiro called back. “We were barely getting through VA.C-14, but we have eyes on the kaiju! We are sending visuals and engaging!”

 

“We will talk about this as soon as you kill that monster and return to base. Don’t think we won’t!” And they probably would, after they cleaned the mess hall with only toothbrushes and a toothpick, but they had some lives to save then. “HOLT! Analysis on incoming image, YESTERDAY!”

 

Keith mused on how Allura seemed to be taking out Shiro’s stupidity on his unknowing boyfriend and he could almost hear his brother sigh in agreement. He was going to get it from both ends now.

 

“Marshall, Gypsy Slasher, from what I can see, it’s a cat.4, aquatic type. Nasty, big head. Probably a basher. HammerHead.” Matt’s voice said quickly in their ear.

 

Shiro noted how it would probably be advantageous to hit from the back or front (preferably the back) and avoid the sides, where the bone protuberances seemed the strongest. Keith had found an opening and their body moved without either even having to say a thing.

 

It was a quick movement, a grapple they had practiced on each other in the training room several times. Gypsy Slasher almost jumped out of the water, her arms surrounding HammerHead’s own arms and latching behind its neck and pushing forward. The grip would probably not last, but it would give them enough time to warm up the weaponry engines and, with luck, dislocate an arm.

 

They heard its shoulders crack under the pressure and both of them naively hoped for a quick victory. Using its own weight and head against it, they both thought, was pretty clever.

 

What was not too clever, however, was ignoring the fact that it, being an aquatic type, probably had a long, strong oar-type of tail. The hit they both felt on the back, however, quickly alerted them to it. It was strong enough that they disengaged the grip and fell into the water.

 

“Think it noticed us?” Keith asked a bit breathless from the hit as he pushed against the ocean floor to stand up.

 

“I think it did.” Shiro said as they stood up, only to come face to face with blue neon eyes and a mouth full of very sharp teeth. “Uh, Matt? Change that from bashing to bashing and biting.”

 

“Slasher, MOVE!”

 

Keith didn’t even have time to process the emotion that ran through his brother as the worried sound of Matthew Holt’s voice ripped through their coms. They quickly raised their hands in front of them, holding its jaws open, pushing it away from them as best they could, but it wasn’t enough. “Keith, missiles!” Shiro called between gritted teeth, but before his brother could react, the sound of explosions and the warm blinding light of fire hitting HammerHead’s back gave them a moment to regain their footing and push the kaiju down.

 

Looking up, they both spotted the burning red turrets that were just fired from the lookout fortress. Keith felt a wave of gratefulness come from his brother, but they were not done yet. “We’ll send them champagne when this is over, Shiro! Now, PUSH-AH!” They reports were right in one thing, HammerHead was a fast bastard and it had just taken the moment that they shifted their footing to continue to pry its jaw open for it to slip away.

 

“No!” Shiro screamed as they were swiped off their feet.

 

“Sword! Sword! SWORD!” Keith wasn’t sure if he thought it or yelled it, but the message went across. Gypsy Slasher stretched her arm and a blade sprang forward from her forearm. The kaiju had tried to escape, away from the little inconveniences and right towards the coast, but Slasher’s sword had just managed to stab its tail to the ocean floor, filling the once dark waves with the neon blue blood. The kaiju screeched in pain and thrashed about, giving them a moment to stand up.

 

“Laser cannon loaded and ready to fire.” the mechanical voice announced and both of them smirked.

 

They raised their left arm, the whirring of the machinery and the light of the plasma cannon increasing as they loaded and shot the damned thing three times, blood spluttering into the dark water.

 

They remained in silence, listening, waiting, but nothing came.

 

“Gypsy Slasher! Report!” Allura’s voice broke through the uncertain silence.

 

“We have negative signals, mission success.” Shiro replied, slightly out of breath.

 

“Good, we’ll inform the lookout base. Now, there is a mess hall waiting to be cleaned, and I think I know just the right idiots to clean it.” Her voice was snappy, but even she couldn’t hide the relief in her voice.

 

Keith snorted as they stood back up. “Toothbrush, told you-”

 

“GYPSY SLASHER, RE-ENGAGE! RE-ENGAGE! SHIRO, IT’S STILL THERE!” And even if Matt’s screams hadn’t alerted them, the huge bleeding kaiju face that now blocked their view was a sure dead giveaway.

 

“FAST MOTHERFUCKER!” Keith yelled as they rose their arms in front of their face. He felt the teeth-filled jaws clamp around their left arm and, while Shiro felt it too, he, being the left module, felt it as if it was his own arm being chewed. “CHARGE THE LASER SHIRO!” He yelled through tears of pain.

 

“80% loaded, Keith! Hang on!” Shiro called as they used their other arm to punch it in the eyes. However, with both of their hands tied up with the head, there was nothing to defend the rest of the body from the claws. The horrifying scream of metal being sliced was almost as if Slasher herself was screaming in pain too. They could hear the shoulder creaking even from their cabin and Keith howled in pain along with it.

 

“HOLD ON, KEITH. HOLD O-” but before Shiro could slam their fist once more against HammerHead’s face, the arm came tearing off.

 

“Secondary cannon, loaded and ready to fire.”

 

Keith could barely hear the computer over the buzzing in his ears. He knew his arm was still there, but Slasher’s wasn’t, and it had felt as if his had been teared along with it.

 

“Focus, Keith, FOCUS!”

 

Once more, metal shrieking filled the cabin and, in his haze, Keith managed to turn around to find his brother’s eyes, look for comfort in them, ignore the fangs that were penetrating their cabin.

 

“Patience yields focus, Keith. I need you to-”

 

It happened in a second. The longest second in Keith’s life. He remembered the time when he watched as the whole building where their parents were collapsed under the weight of a kaiju, and even that had seemed relatively fast. His body was just so _slow_. He just had to reach out, reach out and take Shiro’s hand, pull him back into the cockpit, away from the piece of metal that the kaiju’s teeth had grasped, away from its horrible mouth.

 

“No. NO! NO NO NO!!” Keith’s own screech sounded foreign to his ears, reality wasn’t making sense.

 

“GIVE HIM BACK!” Keith strained against the controls, taking the left one that now was uselessly grasped in his left hand with his right hand. “GIVE HIM BACK, GIVE HIM BACK, _GIVE HIM BACK_!” A part of him registered that the strain was too much, too painful, too empty, but he pushed on. Shiro was still there, he just had to reach him. The cannon in his hand fired once, twice, three times, right through the creature’s chest, abdomen and left arm, practically just leaving a third of its body, blue toxic blood splattering over Slasher and falling in cascades into the ocean. It was dead, so why wasn’t Shiro back?

 

It took him a moment to realize that the deep, painful roar was coming from himself as he tore into the creature with his one remaining hand. He caught a glimpse of yellow and black, but the darkness was beginning to engulf him, eat away at his eyesight. He was sure of it, though. There was an escape pod launched. Gypsy Slasher fell under her own weight and Keith fell unconscious.


	2. Incident 0.1: The Fall of Anchorage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The era of the Jaeger has been declared over, the Pacific Containment Wall is now, along with the few still active shatterdomes, humanity's last hope.

PACIFIC CONTAINMENT WALL,  
L.A. CALIFORNIA, USA  
0835 HOURS

  
The smells of construction, molten metals and concrete, stung his nose. He’d been working there for almost two years and it still smelled like shit. Fuck getting used to it. He made his way through the exhausted night shift crew, which had just been released with a long shrill alarm, marking both the sunrise and the shift change. He’d never been good with crowds, but he had to get to his job on time, so he pushed through, head down, pulling his jacket closer on himself.

“Hey, Kogane!” the voice was gruff, mocking, and Keith didn’t ever lift his eyes, not interested in whatever taunt the brutes from the construction had come up with that morning. He’d get to his locker, get his gear and start his shift. If he got lucky, they’d get bored, as they often did, and leave him alone.

“Oh, look at him. So high and mighty above us, just ‘cause he used to be a pilot.”

Keith could’ve sworn he felt the blood in his veins freeze. He had been so careful not to let anything slip through, so careful not to bring his past life here. It couldn’t be helped that the foreman, Commander Trois knew. They had met, after all, in that sea fort so long ago. He was a good man, rough on the edges, but there was no way that he would spill Keith’s secret. So, how could they know?

“Yeah, he used to be a fancy Jaeger pilot, right?” another worker chimed in, cruelly taunting him.

“Didn’t he get his copilot killed?” added another.

Honestly, Keith would’ve liked to say that he tried to stop himself, to control his temper… but he really hadn’t. Even after all of this time, he hadn’t stopped his daily training. It helped keep him focused, occupy his mind in something other than the lonely excuse of a life he had, vent his anger and stay in shape. And although he hadn’t been in a real combat for a long time, the movements had been etched into his muscles.

They didn’t even know what hit them.

It would’ve been easy enough to knock them out or push them away long enough to give himself a moment to escape, but they had gone too far. They had brought Shiro into this and if he’d broken that last one’s nose, well, it really wouldn’t keep him up at night.

“Keith!” Commander Trois’ voice echoed through the yard, cutting through the noise of the jeers and cheers coming from the small crowd that had gathered around them. “Enough!” And while the order in itself wouldn’t have been enough to stop him, the commander’s arm pushing him back was.

His breath came in quick inhales, the rage slowly leaving his eyes. “If I am not mistaken the bell rang out five minutes ago, so all I see here are people who want to be fired!” the commander's sharp words were enough to have the watchers scrambling away to their posts.

Commander Trois was not a man to be taken lightly, and now he turned to the guys who started the conflict, narrowing his eyes and speaking through clenched teeth. “As for you, trio of dumbasses, if you found out that someone was in trained in of the top military programs, what on this Earth possessed you into thinking that picking a fight with a them was a good idea?!”

They stood up, cleaning bloody noses and busted lips, sending glares on Keith’s direction. “One of these days, Kogane…” one of them started threatening him, but Commander Trois’ voice thundered over his.

“SCRAM, ASSHOLES!”

That did the trick pretty fast, all three of them leaving the scene pretty quickly, but Keith knew that it wouldn’t be the last he heard of this. Jaeger pilots were not well seen in the public’s eyes. He’d have to change station or shift or find an new job all together. He swallowed the knot that formed in his throat and clenched his teeth. “How did they even find out?”

He didn’t miss the pitiful look that Trois sent him, and while he was grateful for the work and for his general kindness, he hated that look that was often leveled on him after HammerHead.

“The Anchorage Dome’s files have been made public, you know, after the decommission.” he explained in a soft voice. “ ‘M afraid it is partially my fault. They probably heard that I had been involved in one of the missions and went snooping around to try to undermine me. They must’ve stumbled into your name by accident.”

The bitter taste in his mouth now made his stomach twist painfully. Of course Anchorage had been decommissioned. At least what had been left of it had been.

Few Shatterdomes remained active after the era of the Jaeger. They were too expensive, too destructive and took too long to build. The Earth had turned its back on the Jaegers and placed its hopes on the completely defensive strategy of the Pacific Containment Wall program.

As far as Keith was concerned, it was the most ridiculously stupid thing the United Earth Government could come up with. Of course it didn’t even take a year for the Kaiju to break it, and they started with the Anchorage Dome and the wall surrounding it. The world watched horrified as two kaijus, category 4 both of them, smashed through the Alaska Wall, proving that the PCW would not last.

Keith, however, was horrified for a whole different reason. So far, the kaiju attacks had been undoubtedly brutal, terrifying and deadly. So much and so many had been lost… but as far as strategies went, theirs were simple. Bash in and destroy as much as they could reach before they were stopped and killed. There was no thought, no plan. Even Keith himself, who relied on his instincts more than in a strategy, could see it. But the Anchorage Dome attack had been different.

The first to come out of the Breach had been a venomous level 4 dubbed ‘ToxicGreen’, due to the green stripes that adorned its body.

It, however, had _waited_.

It had sent chills down Keith's spine, watching the live coverage of the kaiju swimming just beneath the waves and around the Breach. They said that it was probably confused or stretching out or whatever excuse they could think of… But then the second sea quake had been detected. Within a flurry of alarms and sensors going off, 'SpearTalons', a level 4 flying specimen with nasty claws, appeared through the Breach. As soon as it had, a little clumsily, taken to the air, they sped off together. Keith had the chilling thought then that they probably were hunting together, too.

The whole world watched and speculated as ToxicGreen headed straight for Vancouver, SpearTalons tailing behind it, somewhat hidden by the clouds. They were fast, but had been monitored and Anchorage Dome had been ready.

YukonBrawler and SnowBrutus, the two Jaegers based there had quickly headed out, wearie of where SpearTalons could be, but focused on protecting the Canadian Wall. Keith remembered feeling uneasy, paranoid. There was something wrong.

It had been a few minutes after Brawler and Brutus had engaged with ToxicGreen that he realized what.

Video feed and alarms had suddenly erupted from Anchorage Dome and Keith’s stomach dropped.

ToxicGreen had been fast, to the point in which SpearTalons had fallen behind, seemingly having trouble keeping up with it. But ToxicGreen wasn’t an aquatic specimen, there was no way that it could be faster than SpearTalons was in the air when it clearly was a flying specimen. The easy, horrifying truth was that it wasn’t. The video that came from Anchorage showed SpearTalons with four wings.

Later analysis of its first appearance showed that it had previously had those wrapped around itself, waiting for the moment to unfurl all of its wings. The Kaiju knew that the world was watching and they were learning. They had been testing, looking for a weakness, and they’d found it. They had set a _trap_.

With Brawler and Brutus away from base, Anchorage had been left with nothing but a few torrets and little to no chance of defense until her Jaegers came back or another dome took pity on them.

None had.

Keith had watched, horrified, as the walls that he had one called home came crumbling down, not knowing who was there, who has safe, and who had died.

It took at least an hour before Brutus could finally flee combat with the first kaiju, leaving Brawler to deal with ToxicGreen, and rush back to protect the base. There was nothing much left to protect. A sense of dread and helplessness had fallen over the world as they’d watch their precious wall come down.

Keith had desperately tried contacting the Holts, Allura, anyone and everyone he could think of... But that had been a little over a month ago, and he’d still received no reply.

“Keep your head down, hands working. You’ll manage.” Trois had said. The exhaustion that came from working all day in the wall (which now felt even more useless) eased a bit the anxiety, but the nightmares still came.

He tried to stay up as much as he could, going over files of the HammerHead incident, pushing it all away with the thought that Shiro had to still be out there, alive. After all, the capsule he’d clearly seen had never been found and the case’s files had been dismissed and stored far too quickly for anyone’s liking. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a full night’s sleep.

Trois cleared his throat, bringing Keith back to reality and his attention to him. “I know you’ve been through a lot Keith. I have some job openings in the higher levels. Would keep you away from these idiots, but you know the deal. Bigger pay, higher fall.”

The mortality rate in the higher levels of the wall was, obviously, higher, but Keith didn’t really mind. He looked at the red ID cards that Trois held in his hand thoughtfully. He didn’t even know what he wanted money for, but he liked the idea of leaving the confined spaces of the lower levels.

Keith stretched his hand to the cards but Trois’ pulled them away before he could reach them. “But before you choose this, someone came to see you. I think you should talk to them.” Keith sent Trois’ a dirty look but finally agreed, following his foreman to the administrative offices in silence as he wondered who else could’ve figured out who he was and where he had been hiding.

The light as Keith entered the office was dim, but it was still enough for him to see the silhouette of a person standing in front of it. He hesitated for a moment, his heart now rapidly beating in his chest. They seemed familiar... but the pain of loss, of disappointment, hung heavy on him and he didn’t want to jump to any conclusion. As his eyes adjusted to the soft light, he notice that their back was turned to them, silently watching the construction through the window. Wavy platinum hair fell on their shoulders, and they looked so much like her, but still...

And then, they spoke. “Thank you, commander. If you could just give us a moment.” Trois simply grunted and closed the door.

The seconds flew by in silence, her voice echoing in his ears. It was then that Keith, after a moment to collect himself, saw the slight shake in her shoulders.

“...Allura.” he muttered softly. As if a spell binding her had been broken, Allura Altea turned to look at him. He had forgotten how breathtakingly beautiful she was. Ethereal, almost royal, but now she carried an air of sadness and her pale blue eyes reflected the heartbreak that she simply could not hide.

“Hello Keith.” she almost whispered back, a silent tear falling from her eye.

“I thought you were dead.” he managed to say with a broken voice. “I… I died during the video feed. I thought you had all died.”

Allura quickly cleaned her tears before reaching out to him, placing her hand on the top of his head and kissing his forehead.

This, he knew, was not Marshall Altea. This was 'Lura, Shiro’s best friend, the one who had made sure that they all had something to eat in the orphanage where they had lived. This was the woman who had had given his brother a full honours funeral but at the same time had flames burning in her eyes as Keith begged her to look for him, because he had seen an escape pod. She had been one of the few who had believed him.

She had offered him a job training new pilots in the dome… But being in the barracks without Shiro and in the hangars without Slasher had been unbearable.

“I’m so sorry, Keith.” she said softly with a broken voice. “I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone or leave and...” He felt her body tremble, as if her own strength was failing her. “I didn’t even know who’d survived.” It was then that his mind, finally getting over his own relief, finally noted that she was wearing a cast on her right arm and had deep, stitched up injuries in her face that ran all the way down until they hid themselves under her shirt’s collar.

“I didn’t let myself hope…” Keith whispered, pushing her hair out of her tear-stained face. “I honestly just didn’t let myself think about it. About you or Matt or Pidge or Commander Holt.”

At the mention of the Holts, a new shadow fell over her eyes and Keith’s stomach dropped.

“ ‘Lura…” he started, but she shook her head, stopping him before he could say anything more and simply tapped her ear and glanced around.

He understood. She did not feel at liberty to talk about this there, but that did not help the uncomfortable knot that had formed in his stomach.

“I’ve come to invite you to a rooftop movie. But you kinda have to drop what you have here.”

A rooftop movie. It was something they used to do when they were younger. Sam Holt had fashioned a small projector from scraps and they secretly took it to the roof to watch old movies. It was a code for something secret, something not necessarily sanctioned. And the fire that he saw in Shiro’s funeral was there in her eyes, behind her tear-filed lashes.

Keith didn’t even hesitate. He rushed to the door, opening it, finding Commander Trois talking to some workers down on their luck, waving the red ids in front of them.

“Commander, I-”

“Don’t want to hear it, Kogane. These folks were faster than you, they beat you to the red cards.” He looked over his shoulder at Keith, a small smile in his lips. “I don’t want to see you in a wall. Ever again. Am I clear?”

Keith simply saluted, leaving the other two workers slightly confused over the antics of the two men, but saying nothing. “It has been an honor, sir.”

“No, it hasn’t.” Trois laughed. “Get out of my face and site, Kogane. Kick some ass out there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me a while, I know! Sorry, had to finish exams and recover from that ordeal (?) Thank you all who left kudos and I hope you enjoy this episode, even if it's a bit exposition filled and shorter. Promise we're meeting the rest of the gang soon! 'Till then!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in a while and I finally decided to make the jump to AO3, so I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will, hopefully, be up before next Friday. And don't worry, even if there are some similarities between the fic and the original movie, especially at the beginning, it's gonna quickly drift away from the original script.   
> See you soon then!


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